Mikey Campbell
A decision published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Monday saw an Apple patent, co-invented by late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, covering multi-touch functionality have all 20 of its claims invalidated after the property was reexamined.
The USPTO's review of Apple U.S. Patent No. 7,479,949 for a "Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics" was completed earlier this week, with the preliminary invalidation filing first discovered by FOSS Patents. The first Office action is not final, however, and can later be overturned following an appeal.
Dubbed the "Steve Jobs" patent by a number of people, including Apple's lawyers, the '949 patent is a broad, sweeping property covering the general functionality of multi-touch screens like those used in the iPhone and iPad. Leveraged against Samsung in the landmark Apple v. Samsung jury trial, as well as an ITC dispute with Motorola, the IP is thought to be one the most famous of Jobs' software patents.
Illustration from the '949 patent. | Source: USPTO
Filed for in April 2008 and granted in January 2009, the '949 patent lists Jobs first among 25 co-inventors including former iOS chief Scott Forstall and engineer Bas Ording.
From the '949 patent's abstract:
A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command.
The '949 patent decision comes a little over one month after Apple's '381 "rubber-banding" or "bounce-back" patent was also invalidated in a similar preliminary action. Both properties faced multiple reexamination requests challenging their validity, the most recent being an ex parte, or anonymous, challenge in in May.
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Marko Zivkovic
139 Comments
I wonder if this is a reason why the stock is falling lately...
Preliminary should be in the headline
Truly pathetic. First grant a patent, then revoke it. And not just any patents, plural, actually, but the heart and soul of the way 400M devices are used around the world. I think we are all better of if a patent is granted it should remain that way. (And the stock has zilch to do with it)
This is a good reason not to bring any production back to the US. Why support the same government that pulls this kind of stuff. Sounds like the US is out to support Korean companies (who shall go un-named) not US companies.
Apple should quit innovating and actually making something, but rather just become a patent troll and make out like a banshee!
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